Yafatou Sarr

Artist-Apprentice

Born and raised in Gambia, West Africa, I have been making art all my life since childhood with my family and neighbors. I remember my Great Grandmother teaching me how to sew. Today, as an immigrant to New York City, I continue to learn from the Bronx community around me. My art education is an accumulation of local knowledge, community workshops, curiosity, mentorship and determination. For the past year, I have been an artist-apprentice at Concourse House, Home for Women and Their Children receiving training in teaching, arts programming and technical art installation. In 2022, I taught a beginners class in weaving with Serviam Seniors (Fordham Bedford Community Services and will make new crochet murals in the neighborhood. In 2022, I also received a teaching award from the Bronx Council on the Arts as a teaching Artist to senior residents at SEBCO senior center in the Bronx, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural affairs and Department for the aging and the City’s five local art councils.

Photo credit: Isabelle Gutierrez